Georgia's Mark Richt might be in line for a raise

ATHENS, Ga. — Georgia finished ranked in the top five in the nation in both major polls, but Mark Richt is not among the five highest-paid Southeastern Conference coaches.

That could change.

Richt, who got a contract extension last off-season but no raise, could get a boost to his $2.81 million annual salary at Georgia’s Athletic Association board meeting in February.

“The president and I will have that discussion,” Georgia athletic director Greg McGarity said Tuesday about talks with university president Michael Adams. “I’m sure we’ll deal with all of football in total and probably have something to say about that at our upcoming February board meeting.”

Arkansas coach Bret Bielema was recently hired at an annual salary of $3.2 million, and Tennessee will pay its new coach, Butch Jones, $2.9 million a year. They rank in the SEC behind only Alabama’s Nick Saban ($5.32 million), Louisiana State University’s Les Miles ($3.75 million) and South Carolina’s Steve Spurrier ($3.55 million), according to reports. James Franklin’s salary at Vanderbilt has been reported to be approximately $3 million, but the private school does not release salary figures.

Richt’s performance bonuses were doubled when his contract was reworked and extended through the 2016 season.

He received $150,000 for winning the SEC East, $100,000 for reaching the Capital One Bowl and $100,000 for finishing in the top five.

Georgia lost to Alabama in the SEC title game but was 5 yards away from playing for the BCS crown.

Georgia finished 12-2 and No. 4 in the coaches’ poll and tied for fifth in the Associated Press poll.

Richt is 118-40 at Georgia entering his 13th season.

“I think Mark has done a tremendous job and obviously any time you win 12 games in a season and 22 over two years is a tremendous accomplishment,” McGarity said. “Mark continues to lead our program in an outstanding manner. We’ll just talk through those things in our board meeting coming up.”

Offensive coordinator Mike Bobo, who drew interest from Virginia Tech for the same position on its staff and was a finalist for the Broyles Award for nation’s top assistant, is already expected to get a raise. Raises for the rest of the staff also could be coming.